Trio Khnopff
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Resilience
Three artists neglected by history; three composers braving injustice and persecution through their music; three great masters to discover!
 

Trio opus 24 (30')                                                                              Mieczyslaw WEINBERG (1919-1996)
 
  1. Prélude et Aria
  2. Toccata
  3. Poème
  4. Finale. Allegro moderato.
 
Trio Concertant opus 10 (20')                                                  Laszlo LAJTHA (1892-1963)
 
  1. Premier concert
  2. Intermezzo
  3. Second concert
 
 
Trio-Fantasie opus 63 (12')                                                      Ernst KRENEK (1900-1991)
 

​Of all the works we have played, both individually and as a trio, absolutely none surpass the almost overwhelming emotional weight of the Weinberg Trio. No one emerges unscathed from this music that oscillates between extreme expressionism and inhuman coldness: neither the discerning music lover nor the curious novice and even less the performers, to which it offers no respite. An uncompromising work by a young Polish exile in Moscow who lost his entire family during the Holocaust, it undoubtedly deserves a place amongst the most significant works of Soviet chamber music.
Laszlo Lajtha’s Trio Concertante expresses the same radicality, but here it is expressed in a very different way. Unbridled virtuosity with fiendish cadenzas for the three instruments, rhapsody, contemplation, rhythmic decisiveness, organic flow… It is a kaleidoscopic expression of the composer’s happier years, before his freedom of expression was so severely restricted by the post-1945 Hungarian political climate. Bartok, who found in his friend a very Latin temperament, also said of him that he was a great composer... but that his pieces were unplayable! Now we must rise to the challenge…
A marvel of late romanticism in an old Europe which was still blind to the first signs of impending catastrophe, Krenek's Trio-Fantaisie represents the last peaceful moments of a composer soon declared a degenerate by the Nazis.
An intense and emotionally charged programme - quintessentially Trio Khnopff!
This programme will be included on our first album (released early 2019).  Modifications to the concert programme are possible, to be discussed with the trio.
 
Concert with a twist
The concert can include a detailed presentation of Miezczyslaw Wienberg's life and career (which deserves a novel!) during the concert's interval.